


We Go Together

by enchanted_book



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Humanstuck, Multi, Schoolstuck, cronus is a tool, kankri is actually kinda an okay person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:48:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2634032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enchanted_book/pseuds/enchanted_book
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Kankri Vantas, and boy, you were a sucker for his sea green eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. [S] Kankri: Start over.

Your name is Kankri Vantas and you are pretty anxious for the experience of going to a new school. You see, you've always gone to Garden Grove, all your life. But upon your eighteenth birthday, you had moved away from your father's house. Too many memories, you decided. Of course you took your younger brother, Karkat, along with you, as you had filed custody for the boy. Yes, you two had your differences, but he also agreed to move, suggested it even.  
So now, here you stood, before your new school, Fortuna High. And yes, you had wished the school was as fortunate and prosperous as the name had suggested. However, that is not important in this time. You had to suck it up and get through your first day before you could pick up your younger brother from his school, the middle school.   
You took a deep breath before walking through the frot doors and into the overcrowded lobby of cliques.   
There was everyone; from the preps to the stoners. Even that douchebag guitar guy every school had.   
So this was public school... Certainly, it was interesting...  
You glanced at your schedule before setting off to find your first class. Calculus, Room 214. Great, this would take forever to find.  
You prowled down hallway after hallway and began to believe this school was a labyrinth. Soon, you returned to the lobby, now empty as the bell had rung about five minutes ago, and groaned in defeat.   
And as if God himself had decided to pity you,  a boy snuck in through the front doors. How the secretary in the Admin Office hadn't noticed, you didn't know.   
Regardless, you were glad he had appeared, much like a guardian angel. However, unlike an angel, he was not clad in robes of any sorts, but instead a dark leather jacket, worn jeans, a vintage looking t-shirt, and black biker boots. He hadn't even bothered to remove the unlit cigarette from his mouth, which was clearly against school rules.  
Regardless, you had no other choice than to ask the delinquent for assistance. You tugged anxiously at the hem of your favorite candy red sweater.  
"Uhm, excuse me, but could you possibly help me find my way to class? I am new here and do not fully understand where I am to go, and I would genuinely appreciate your assistance if you-"  
"Yeah, sure, sweetheart. What're you lookin' for?" He interrupted. Yet, you were grateful that he had agreed to escort you to class.   
"My name is  _Kankri,_ not 'sweetheart', or any other appellation. You may address me by my name, nothing more, nor less. Well, I suppose you could call me by my surname, Vantas... If you wish to do so, that is."  
You held out your schedule and he glanced at it.  
He let out a light chuckle, "Alright Kanny, let's get on. We got English together for last period. I could take you home if ya'd like."  
"No, that will be quite alright. I possess my own vehicle, and I must retrieve my younger brother from the middle school as it lets out. And through deduction, I do not believe it would be too intelligent of me to allow you to drive with punctuality like  _that._ "  
He shook his head with a smirk, thudding down the hall due to the heaviness of his boots. You pulled your schedule close to your chest as you followed the greaser boy, obviously stuck in the 50's. Not that you minded, he wasn't  _too_ bad behind that douchey accent and obvious attempt at flirting with you, a mere stranger. A pang ran through you; perhaps he believed you to be a girl?  
Impossible! Your mess (neater than Karkat's) red hair reached just a bit past your ears! But there were those pixie cuts... Eyelashed that framed your cognac eyes were not nearly as long and feminine as a woman's, and you were positive that the littered freckles you had didn't make you effeminate.   
So, if it wasn't facial, maybe it was your outfit?  
However, it was just a simple, slightly baggy red turtleneck, matched with (high rise, and yes, they're totally not for girls. so very manly) black demin trousers and the generic black converse everyone owned. Nothing here but the absolute picture of masculinity.  
Perhaps his comments were a light joke.   
 _Or he's gay._ Wow, now you're overthinking this.  
Finally, you two came to a stop before a door.   
"Here it is, chief. I'll look for you around lunch and we can go out with a few of my friends, 'kay? Feel free to bring someone along if ya'd like."  
"Oh, I would not wish to burden you, I am fully capable of eating alone, and furthermore I-"  
"It's not really a problem like you're makin' it out to be, Kanny. It's just the diner down the street. I'll buy and you can ride along with me. You might need to hold on tight, though." He gave another smirk.  
"I will drive my  _car_ , and you may accompany me, and I will pay for my own meal." You crossed your arms over your chest.  
"Alright, alright. You can drive, but I'm buying. It's only fair considerin' I invited you. But hey, I gotta get going and kiss my teacher's ass so she doesn't write me a detention for bein' late again. See ya soon, dollface." He winked, turned on his heels and thumped down the hall.  
You sighed out and rapped against the door thricely before the teacher opened the door. You explained you were new and got lost after she scolded you for not having a pass. She directed you to the seat next to a girl with mousy brown hair and bottle green dyed undersides. She had curled the bottle green hair... She was also covered in matching bottle green, swirling tattoos, and piercings. Her shirt was extremely low cut, exposing her cleavage.  
You fought back the look of disgust threatening, and slid into your seat with a fake smile.  
"It's my body, stop looking, creep." Her tone was stern, yet monotonous, as if she'd been through this a million times.  
You looked straight on through her jade green eyes and spoke.   
"I apologize if I came off as rude, I was simply admiring your... Bodily art." You gestured towards her tattoos.  
To be frank, she was quite lovely behind her "eat shit" facade.   
"Whatever, sweater weather. You've got some nerve, showing up to class late."  
You sighed out, "It is  _Kankri._ And I did not mean to, you see, I got lost and upon finding another student, he took me to class. I would assume we are friends now, as he has invited me to lunch." You said with an air of triumph. Making a friend on the first day. Score.  
She laughed. Hard. Hell, she even snorted lightly.  
"That's Cronus Ampora, total virginial whore, if you know what I mean. He jumps at any chance of someone being slightly interested in him, since most of us around here know he's a total tool. He'll invite you to lunch, make it like a bunch of friends are going, then say at last minute they all bailed and it turns out to be a creepy ass date." She scooted her chair closer to yours. "But here's what we're gonna do."

 

You felt pretty confident in this whole scheme. Apparently not a single new kid thought to take him up on his offer and bring someone else, except you, that is. Yep, here you were, at the diner. With both Porrim and Cronus. Cronus sat across from you in the booth, while Porrim was next to you. The two of you had turned to each other to chat, kind of leaving Cronus out to be a third wheel.   
The thing is... You started to feel bad for taking advantage of the complacent boy. He was really trying his best to be polite, grazing over the menu for fifteen minutes without interjecting in your "private" conversation as you had earlier put it.   
That is, until he ordered for you.  
Yep, he ordered you a burger and milkshake.  
You quickly looked to Porrim with a distraught look and she understood immeadiately. Of course she did, you had told her about you and certain aspects of yourself in Calculus this morning.   
Luckily, Cronus left her to order for herself so she placed an order for a madarin and pecan salad, paired with a glass of ice water.   
When the food came, he gave a confused look as you swapped orders. A look of disgust on your face as you touched the plate with the burger on it.  
"Somethin' wrong?" He questioned, cocking an eyebrow in true confusion.  
Porrim glared her scary motherly look towards him, "If you had taken the time to get to know Kan, you'd know he's a vegan."  
You gnawed at your lower lip, the skin threatening to tear.   
"A what?"  
This time you answered.  
"I do not consume animals or their produce. For example, burgers or dairy in general..."  
He furrowed his brows apologetically , "Damn... Sorry Kanny, didn't know."  
You shook your head, assuring him it was quite alright before attempting to get him into a joint conversation with you and Porrim.  
  
Your name is Kankri Vantas, and boy, you were a sucker for his sea green eyes.


	2. [s] Kankri: Be a Good Samaritan

The car ride back to school was terrible. Insanely awkward for both you and Cronus. You supposed that Porrim had seen the way you stared at him throughout lunch, and decided to give a helping hand. After all, she was your self-proclaimed "best friend" in the short period of time that you have known her. And now, she was being entrusted to drive your car, after begging and begging. Truthfully, you had said no but she snatched your keys.  
What made matters worse was how she forced you into the back seat, like a little kid, with Cronus. He mainly ignored you until he got a text, scoffing at the message.  
"Ugh, sometimes I really hate my old man, ya know?" He was tapping away at the phone, writing a strongly worded message back.  
"What did he do to anger you?" You leaned over, reading away at the message before he turned his phone away, grumbling about privacy.  
"Don't even bother coming home", and "I'll kick the shit out of you once you get home", stood out most prominently to you, next to the homophobic slurs. This was the moment where you could make a choice, and it wouldn't be difficult. Except then he would know you read the whole thing. Oh well, it would be better than him staying home with an abusive father. Besides, you had a guest room anyways. Thank God for inheritance, am I right?  
"Cronus, would you like to have a sleepover? I haven't had one since I was younger, and I would really enjoy to have one with my new friend. We could learn so much more about each other." That was a nice way to play it off. Porrim was smirking, looking back at you through the mirror.  
"I dunno, Kan... I gotta little brother, and it ain't good when I leave him home with the old man." His eyes looked scared, something you had never seen in him before. He was naturally cocky and confident, his father must have really broken him.  
"Oh! That's alright, bring him. I have a guest room he can sleep in, and if you don't mind, you can sleep in my room. Karkat's touchy about his bed, so he'll be just down the hall-..."  
"I can't ask ya to give up your life. I'll just get a quick place to stay. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Besides, I got the cash for it." He chuckled, and you knew what he meant. On top of a credit card, he had enough cash to make you faint. You would leave it at that, except, that's not how you were raised. Your father was a Christian man, and taught you to treat everyone with the compassion and kindness you would want if you were ever in a tough situation.  
"I insist. You may stay however long you would like. Just try not to make too much of a mess?"  
Porrim interjected, "Yeah, Cro. Stay with Kanny, baby. You might get a little treat."  
She pulled into the parking spot with a jerk, sending you forward a bit until the seatbelt restrain you. Cronus held his arm to your chest before telling her off, "Jesus Christ, Porrim! Can't ya drive? Kankri ain't done nothin' to ya! He's just tryin' ta be nice, and ya always do this!"  
His douchey accent came out more when he was angry, you noted.  
"I'm not doing anything. In fact, I'm happy for you. It's Kanny I'm worried about. He's a good kid, and I don't want my baby making the wrong choices. Especially not when it involves allowing vermin into his house." She spat, turning around to toss the keys at you, which you caught dazedly, and leaving the car. She slammed the door shut and stomped away, hair bouncing with every step.  
Cronus' arm traveled from your chest to around your shoulders, after unbuckling you. Himself refusing to buckle up prior.  
"Sorry 'bout that, angel face. We ain't the best of friends." He chuckled lowly, brushing hair from your face. You swallowed thickly, biting at your lip.  
"I can tell... However, my offer still stands. You are more than welcome to stay at my home. I don't think it would be safe of you to go home to your father, he seemed pretty mad."  
"Yeah?" He started to play with your hair, his eyes catching on the glint of silver around your neck. He pulled at the chain, taking it from its hiding spot. The necklace was a present from your father, a simple silver cross, on a silver chain. He began to laugh, his hand going to cup your cheek, your cheeks tinged a rosy pink. You nodded in response.  
"Yeah... As long as you need." Your voice quivered.  
He smirked, "What if I need forever, baby?"  
You could feel the heat in your cheeks, and he leaned forward. God, he was close. You wanted to pull away... Your hand reached back for the door handle... Slowly, slowly...  
The bell rang, you could hear it through the muffled glass of your windows. Finally, you found the door handle and tumbled out.  
"We should go!" Your voice shook with anxiousness, and Cronus chuckled, following after you. He closed the door much more softly than Porrim did.  
"Let's go, doll." He pulled you up by the hand, leading you to the school with his arm around your shoulders. 

Your name was Kankri Vantas, and suddenly you regretted inviting Cronus Ampora into your home, because you feared if you ever saw him again, you would fall in love with the jerk.


	3. [s] Kankri: Fall In Love

With the addition of Cronus and his brother, Eridan, into your home, you knew you would need to work more hours. Well, you knew that from the beginning, but you might have to get two jobs with the way those boys ate. They had only been here for two days, and already you had to make four trips to the grocery store. Of course, Cronus had offered up money, but it was simply unlike you to make guests pay for their way to stay.   
But when it came down to it, you loved them being here. Especially Eridan, of whom had taken a sudden interest in your veganism, and decided to try out vegetarianism, much to Cronus' disdain. And Karkat had taken a liking to Cronus, and the meat that came along with him. Karkat would have been carnivorous if it wasn't for you forcing vegetables onto his plates. The one thing that really upset you from this change, was how Karkat would insist you two were together, and he wouldn't cease to call you "mom and dad", taking up the habit after Eridan accidentally called you mom.   
Which pretty much sucked, but you didn't mind your masculinity being threatened. You hated it mainly because it showed how this kid never had a sound family, and the slightest bit of kindness equated parental affection to him.   
So now you were making a vegan dinner, sweet potato and black bean veggie burgers, and Cronus was beside you, grilling steaks. The kids were outside as well, sitting at the patio table and talking about some kids from school. They had gotten along so much better than you ever could have hoped. You held out the plate for Cronus to plop the burgers onto, him then switching spatulas to take out his own. Of course you would have preferred to not even have them together on the same grill, but it was rude to call attention towards it. This would technically be breaking your veganism, but what others knew wouldn't kill them.   
You both served out the food and sat down, your boys enjoying their dinner.   
Karkat spoke with his mouth full, "So when are you two getting married?"   
You choked on your own food, taking a sip of your lemonade to wash everything down.   
"Excuse me? We're not even together, I don't know if I could afford marriage. Not with how much you two eat... I swear, you've been consuming meat by the ton since he's arrived."   
Karkat made an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes and stabbing the meat with his fork, shoveling it into his mouth. Cronus stayed silent, playing with his food, while Eridan just kept eating like nothing had happened.   
"I'm just saying," Karkat kept going, it felt like he would never stop, and it was embarrassing. "we don't have a lot of money left, you both obviously like each other, he has too much money, and we both know you don't want to do a certain thing, even if you are googling it like crazy."   
Your cheeks heated up, "Okay! That's enough! What have I told you about going through my laptop? It's an invasion of privacy, and I won't have it!"   
"Why don't we share with the family what they're driving you to?"   
Cronus spoke up, finally, "Alright, kiddo. That's enough, it's Kan's business. And if ya know 'bout it, ya keep your mouth shut."   
Karkat didn't like that, not one bit. He never liked being told what to do, and always reacted badly to directions.   
"How's stripping, Kankri?" 

The rest of dinner was quiet, sending the boys back in the house while you two cleaned up. It was awkwardly silent, and you supposed that he was just trying to be polite, but it drove you insane to not know what he probably thought of you now.   
"I'm sorry about Karkat, he can be quite the handful... I never imagined he would pull something like that, though. He's particularly good around you." You tried to keep your voice down so they wouldn't hear.   
"It's fine, really. Just wish ya would've let me know we're eatin' ya outta house an' home. Not that I believe Kar, neither."   
You chuckled, "Yeah..."   
"I mean, I would never let ya." He added, as a matter of factly.   
You were bewildered, "Excuse me? My body belongs to me, and you're not going to be policing it."   
"Oh, calm down, Kanny. I'm just sayin', I don't want ya displayin' yourself for perverts. I would actually rather you just let me pay you, and if not for stayin' here... Then maybe you'll be my little doll?"   
Your brows knit together, "Is that your way of asking me out?"   
He chuckled, shaking his head slowly.   
"Course not. More like an arrangement. I give ya all ya need, and you just hang around me."   
"Are you asking me to be your prostitute? I'll have you know, that I do not plan on engaging in any sexual activity, especially not with-"   
"Angel, calm down. I'd like some attention there, but it ain't needed. You ain't gotta do nothin' of the sort." 

The proposition was all very odd to you. Practically selling away your love, and you had consulted Porrim, considering you two had become very close over a short period of time. She confirmed that Cronus had never done anything of the sort, attaching a new label to him. It was clear that she was angered by the thought of this arrangement, but she understood.   
Besides, it wasn't too bad. You never minded cuddles, and you got to sleep in your own bed again, even if it was with him. And he was particularly protective over you at school, making sure that not a single person even bothered to make you feel bad about yourself. He would surprise you with presents, which you couldn't help but decline. Though he always found a way to make you keep it. Especially the sweaters... God, cashmere sweaters were the best.   
Along with that, though, you supported him emotionally. His father would call every day, and he would be left a broken mess. You broke little rules of your own, that you had been sure to tell him all about before you started this whole relationship.   
The first time you pressed kisses to his skin, he actually pushed you off, reminding you of how you didn't want any sensual touches muddled into the arrangement. Soon after, though, he allowed them, believing that you wanted it. That it was an exception, if you instigated it.   
Both Karkat and Eridan noticed your sudden invasion of Cronus' personal space, and his of yours. They thought it was interpersonal beforehand, but didn't know you would allow more. Eridan was surprised by the holding of hands in public, Karkat was set on the fact that you didn't push Cronus away when he stood behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and muttering into your ear. Karkat believed it to be sweet nothings or something of that nature, but it was in actuality just Cronus simply asking what was for dinner.   
Every time they would ask if you two were dating, Cronus would reply with, "Something like that."   
Which didn't bother you too much, but it felt like you were leading the kids on. Especially since this was all they had, their only chance of a family. It just felt psychologically manipulative. 

But it felt so right, laying here next to him, with his arms around you. His mouth pressing small kisses to the back of your neck. You rubbed at the back of his hand, a sound of contention slipping. A dreamy sigh.   
All you ever wanted in life was to be loved unconditionally, and this was it. Neither of you tried to change each other, and it felt so liberating. So free... A good relationship.   
Except this wasn't dating, no... Your breathing became shallow, and you waited several minutes until he stopped. He settled, and said to you what he said each night, when he believed you to be asleep.   
"I love you, Kan..." 

Your name is Kankri Vantas, and you didn't want this moment to end.


End file.
